1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a received-light pattern detection apparatus for detecting, as a received-light pattern and in a non-contact manner, the trail of a moving object.
2. Description of the Background Art
The present applicant has proposed a hand-input-type game system which perceives a sign from the motion of a hand or finger of a game player and which attacks an enemy character displayed on a game screen or controls the motions of game characters according to the input sign.
Such a game system requires a received-light pattern detection apparatus for detecting a received-light pattern corresponding to the position of a finger or hand of a game player on a two-dimensional planar surface formed on the front surface of a monitor and which transports the thus-received received-light pattern to a video game board.
The present applicant proposes a scanning apparatus as the received-light pattern detection apparatus. In the scanning apparatus, photo-couplers, each consisting of a light-emitting diode and a light-receiving element, are two-dimensionally arranged at given intervals, thus constituting a detection plane (hereinafter simply called a xe2x80x9cdetection planexe2x80x9d). The light-emitting diodes are sequentially illuminated, whereby a received-light pattern is output form the light-receiving elements.
In a case where one hundred and twelve photo-couplers are provided on the front surface of a 29-inch monitor, since the time required for reading a received-light pattern from a single photo-coupler assumes a value of 200 xcexcsec, a time of 22.4 msec. is required for reading received-light patterns from all the photo-couplers. This read time is longer than a read interval of a video game (i.e., 16.6 msec.)
The received-light pattern detection apparatus proposed by the present applicant is required to shorten a per-scan read time including a transfer time, so as to become less than the read interval of a video game.
The present invention has been conceived in light of the foregoing requirement and is aimed at providing a received-light pattern detection apparatus which can read received-light patterns within a read interval of a video game, including a transfer time.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a received-light pattern detection apparatus for detecting a received-light pattern representing the position of an object existing in front of a monitor. The apparatus includes a detection section having photo-couplers arranged around the periphery of the monitor. The photo-couplers form a planar detection surface in front of the monitor. Timing control circuits are provided to the apparatus for controlling a driving timing of the detection section. A read control circuit is formed in the apparatus by means of connecting the timing control circuits in the form of a cascade. The apparatus also includes an input/output interface for converting the received-light pattern data read from the read control circuit into a switch packet arid transmitting the switch packet.